Kitana

I'm looking for anyone's experience with getting their GX or other model through a dealer trade.
I am a little uncomfortable with this option since so many things can go wrong. Were you still able to get a good deal on the vehicle, were there down payment issues, did they deliver within the specified time and was it exactly the vehicle you wanted?

markrivers

I got my 2011 RX from a dealer trade 3 years ago. ( even though it's not a GX, experience might be the same)

In summary, Everything went out the window. ( negotiation., discounts, freebies like extra service after the 10,000 miles etc. )
The sales people " claimed" they can't offer the same discount to my RX because they don't have control.
I can see that they want me to pick an RX that they have on the lot.
I was still able to get the Lexus loyalty ($1,000 off) and additional discount for using LEXUS financial.
A few hundred dollars off MSRP Vs thousands if it was a car on the lot.

I got the RX the next day.
Nothing wrong with it, except the milage.
It's 78 since it was driven from one dealership to another.
I was expecting a " flatbed" delivery but i was wrong.
So better ask how your GX will be delivered.

Everytime we get a new car, odometer is ALWAYS less than 10.

So if you ask me, i don't recommend doing a dealer trade.
I'd rather deal with the " other" dealership personally.

JohnJerk

I've been through this on toyota deals and It was a non-event. Did not change anything. Not sure if lexus and smaller inventories might change that. Push back if they start making hay over it.

Craig B

I did a port trade on my 2010 without any issues at all. It arrived when they said it would on a normal delivery truck. It happened pretty fast.

bigsley18

i traded in my brz for a '13 and then my '13 for a '14(i know; don't judge me). as far as the brz, it wasn't what i wanted but i got the same offers from other dealerships and even carmax. i wanted the tax credit so i decided to trade it in.

for the '14, i had actually just purchased a used rx330 from sewell(where i purchased my '13). so i had the same salesman(the one that sold me the '13 was a different guy) run numbers for the '14 for me. he got his manager to agree on my numbers via email and we just verbally agreed over the phone because there was a two week wait for the car. the trade in offer on my '13 was over the phone too. they just trusted my description of my gx(practically brand new, just detailed and under 6k miles). my experience through the second salesman was much more positive although that may have been attributed to the fact that i had just purchased another car from him.

markrivers

bigsley18 , i think the OP was asking for a dealer to dealer trade.
and not the dealer taking your old car as a trade in, which is common.

My experience, 3 years ago was my go to dealership ( where we bought a total of 5 Lexus vehicles) doesn't have the color combo/ trim package that we were looking for.
So, to keep our business, they promised to get it from another dealer, one that is 60 miles away.

We did all the paperworks in our usual dealership, and got the car the next day.

bigsley18

Oops! My bad. Man, wrote all that for nothing.

Kitana

Seriously?! I would have been livid!

Bigsley, it's all good. Thanks for wanting to help. :*

I very much appreciate everyone's responses.

JDSTL

When we bought or 2014 GX there wasn't one locally so the dealer got one from Wisconsin and had it shipped. We got the price we wanted and negotiated our trade in and they let us drive the trade until it arrived. Seamless process and we didn't even need to put a deposit down. I think they knew they could sell it if we backed out since demand was up and supply was short in early 2014.

LFIL

We bought a 2013 GX. Wanted a specific one we could see online, but it wasn't in a nearby dealership. Visited two nearby ones and they claimed it wasn't available. Finally went to one who was willing to get it. Turns out it had already been traded once. Anyway, no hassles and no hiccups, but we paid cash so can't comment on the financing. Deal was fine. Dealer otherwise not great, and we take it to another one for service. Any dealer will do the 5K and 10K services for free.

tecman

Please explain your experience.

LFIL

When we picked up the vehicle, we told the dealer we didn't want the front license plate bracket installed. When we went out to get the car, it was not only installed, but put on crooked. WTF?

Later came back to have a hitch installed and all-weather mats put in, which we ordered but not done when we took delivery. They hadn't put the mats in, just threw them in the back. I had the guy put the floor mats in, figuring I would do the cargo liner myself. Later discovered the cargo mat they sold me at "cost" was a generic cut-to-fit WeatherTech liner that they charged me MORE THAN RETAIL for. Total BS.

They also installed cross bars that I originally ordered but then cancelled. I saw them when I picked the car up, and told the guys they weren't supposed to be installed. They insisted per their paperwork they should be. I was pressed for time, so I figured I would deal with it later. When I found out they screwed me royally on the cargo liner, I decided the cross bars would even things out. Three weeks later when they called telling me they weren't supposed to have installed them (duh!), it explained the way things would be. They called back a day later and agreed.

We had another problem previously with this same dealer with our RX. We took it in for service and a week or two later an oil line broke and dumped oil all over the garage floor, and the car had to be towed in. This was a defect covered by a service bulletin they should have fixed when the car was in before. I asked them to send someone to power wash the garage, and they declined. Talked to Lexus corporate, and they changed their minds and the garage got cleaned.

I probably shouldn't have bought the GX there, but I was kind of out of patience. They are now building a brand new dealership right next to the old one. I will never step foot in either again.

I think the price for the GX and the trade allowance they gave were competitive. If they weren't bent on bending me over on the cargo liner (and who would spend that much on a car and put a cut-to-fit liner in the back?), and if their service people weren't incompetent, they would be OK.